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Shock Treatment (1964 film)
Shock therapy}} | screenplay = Sydney Boehm | starring = Stuart Whitman Carol Lynley Roddy McDowall Lauren Bacall | music = Jerry Goldsmith | cinematography = Sam Leavitt | editing = Louis R. Loeffler | distributor = 20th Century-Fox | released = | runtime = 94 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $1,285,000Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. . p. 254 | gross = }} Shock Treatment is a 1964 American neo noir drama film directed by Denis Sanders that takes place in a mental institution, starring Stuart Whitman, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowall, and Lauren Bacall. Plot Martin Ashley , a mentally ill gardener, decapitates his boss, the wealthy Mrs. Townsend, with a pair of garden shears. He subsequently turns himself in to the police, is found insane, and is sent to a mental institution ruled by psychiatrist Edwina Beighley. Mrs. Townsend's executor, Harley Manning, is suspicious of Ashley and hires actor Dale Nelson to simulate madness and land himself in the same institution; his hope is for Dale to locate a million dollars in stolen loot that Ashley might have hidden. Nelson becomes acquainted with Cynthia Albright, a patient in the hospital, and develops a personal interest in her. Dr. Beighley uses hypnosis on Ashley and learns of a million dollars he supposedly has buried. She is desperate for money to continue her work. She also comes to realize that Dale is not who or what he seems to be. She orders an electroconvulsive therapy treatment on him as a means of torture, and then confronts him with her suspicions after he regains consciousness. He denies her accusations and threatens to blackmail her for administering the treatment. She responds to his threat by injecting him with drugs that leave him in states of catatonia. Late one night, Martin and Dr. Beighley are discovered digging a hole near the old Townsend estate. In the box Ashley has buried is nothing but the ashes of money he has burned. Martin snaps at Dr. Beighley, who is angry with him over the burnt funds, and he attacks her; however, Dale intervenes and stops him from killing her. Dr. Beighley's desperation for the money sends her into a state of delusion, and she is determined to recover the money, believing it to be buried somewhere on the estate. Unable to free herself of the delusion, she is institutionalized, while Dale and Cynthia are discharged. Cast *Stuart Whitman as Dale Nelson / Arthur *Carol Lynley as Cynthia Lee Albright *Roddy McDowall as Martin Ashley *Lauren Bacall as Dr. Edwina Beighley *Olive Deering as Mrs. Mellon *Ossie Davis as Capshaw *Donald Buka as Psychologist *Paulene Myers as Dr. Walden *Evadne Baker as Intern *Robert J. Wilke as Technician Mike Newton *Bert Freed as Frank Josephson *Judith De Hart as Matron *Judson Laire as Harley Manning *Simon Scott as Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited) See also *''Shock Corridor'' References External links * * [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/89965/Shock-Treatment/ Shock Treatment] at TCMDB * * Category:1964 films Category:1960s drama films Category:1960s psychological thriller films Category:American films Category:American black-and-white films Category:20th Century Fox films Category:Films set in psychiatric hospitals Category:English-language films Category:Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films directed by Denis Sanders Category:Mental illness in films